From the Burns Library

Photograph: Gary Wayne Gilbert. Click image to enlarge.

Thought to be the earliest printed book by an Irish author, Vision of Tundal was written in 1149 by a Benedictine monk named Marcus, probably wielding a quill pen. It recounts the tale of Tnugdalus, an Irish knight who in 1148 fell asleep for three days and dreamed of traversing purgatory, hell, and paradise. The Latin text, which predates the Divine Comedy by some 160 years, survived in more than 150 manuscripts before this 40-page, 8.25-x-5.25 inch, first edition was printed in Cologne in 1472. (The calf binding is not original.) The volume, one of three known to be held in the United States, was acquired with funding from the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians and the order’s former president Dorothy Weldon.